snova4

See, now this is the realm I could understand. Played high tier basketball for several years.

Appreciate the feedback, we are definitely West of Casselton. As much as my kids like playing, this might be something we pass on in the future. If they want to pursue this type of stuff I'll leave it up to them and shoot for a Team ND or something similar.

In the interest of not putting anyone really on blast, or specifically identifying myself, I'd like to get some input from those that have navigated this before. I have one kid playing AAA Spring Hockey and other(s) that would really be interested in it. We've done several camps in the area, traveling for them, even some from former UND players, and have had good experiences at nearly all. We live in an area that doesn't have enough kids to put forth a team on it's own, so we need to travel to do spring hockey, which we're currently doing, and it's our first year of it. I can't say the experience has been good. We went with a program I had a ton of respect for because we've attended other aspects of their offerings, and were quite pleased, but the travel team has been the exact opposite. We're nearly at the end of everything, and there's been zero improvement as a team, nothing but "me" hockey, which is incredibly frustrating as you can see the team is talented, but the coaches seem to be more interested in swapping stories with parents than getting anyone prepared for the game. I feel like most of the problems the team has been facing with the lack of playing as a team could be fixed in the locker room prior to the game. I guess my main question is, is this worth it? Does AAA help in the long run, or is it more of a money grab? Or is it better just to save our money for a couple camps in the summer and take the kids on a vacation. I'm under no impression that I think any of them will be the next big star. They're talented, but I'm also realistic that advancing to anything outside of high school is something that only a small percentage of players ever do. I just thought that playing in this would give them exposure to some higher end skills and some advanced coaching, but I feel like my kid has actually gotten worse picking up some terrible habits. Any and all thoughts are appreciated from anyone that's navigated this in the past. I'm not a hockey player myself, nor is my wife, we've been referred to as a 1st Generation Family a few times, and that's pretty fitting.

Missed a local D Man that was pretty integral on a team that beat the defending National Champs a few months ago. Talk about culture, would have been the perfect addition for culture.

Okay mom.

Red Bull is weak, shouldn't even be considered an energy drink. With that said, I'll pitch in 3 cases of Bang.

I'm honestly okay with it. I'd rather have guys that want to be here and are willing to bleed green. I want the MacMillan, Pattyn, Mario guys that will lay their seasons on the line to block a shot, and then be willing to take a game off and lay some leather on someone that takes liberties with one of our guys.

Pretty sure that's the source calling O'Mac that.

I remember people calling for that coach to be fired because he couldn't win it all. I remember arguing with those people, making the argument that I'd rather be there every year in the mix than to win one and be an after thought for years. I should have been a fortune teller.

Am I the only one, but I really hate the "filing spots" from the portal. You're grabbing guys that have already bailed on one team, and bringing them onto yours. I don't have inside information, but I can't believe they're going to buy into the program the way a recruited player would. It just irritates me to no end that we're supplementing so much from transfers.

Deleted my last comment, saw that it was 19 hours ago after rereading the article. Stupid night shift.

Pinto stated coming in the plan was two years. I don't see how a shortened season would change that.

This thread has been phenomenal for one thing, informing me of who's opinion to forever scroll past going forward.

This whole thread makes me want to....

He'll fit right in with those mouth breathers.